Best Casino Movies of All Time: Full List of Gambling Movies
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The history of gambling runs back to early human civilizations. For the longest time, many forms of gambling have existed. The earliest mention of casinos in a movie is seen in the 1910 German drama “Arsène Lupin Contra Sherlock Holmes”, where actors play cards in a casino and win larger amounts of cash. Since then, there have been many gambling movies in world cinema.
In addition, the theme of movies is very popular among online game players. Most expensive films ever made inspired by popular providers for slot machine creation. FreeslotsHUB presents a wide compilation with 1500+ real money online slots, including popular movie themed games: Game of Thrones, Wonder Woman, Batman, etc.
Best Casino Movies of All Time
Heavily underrated but popular among many crowds, movies based on casino games or gambling is not a genre that is popularly advertised. But, despite not being made very often, these casino movies are very popular among gamblers/non-gamblers. This could be because they are about risk-taking and winning big in the end. They also come with a lot of drama, great build up and even better climaxes, all while keeping their viewers at the edge of their seats. Here is a list of the best casino movies of all time, with interesting cats and reviews.
��Casino
IMDB rating: 8.2/10
Year: 1995
Cast: Robert De Niro as Sam, Joe Pesci as Nicky, Sharon Stone as Ginger, John Manca as Wiseguy Eddy, Frank Vincent as Frank Marino, James Woods as Lester
Its story is based around its character Sam Ace Rothstein who Robert De Niro plays, and his rise/fall. He lives in Las Vegas and runs a casino called Tangries, along with the Italian mafia. It begins successfully, but Ace faces problems with his business partner/ex-wife, who has been a con artist. He disagrees with corrupt politicians in Las Vegas and works hard to get his casino to its former glory. This movie is based on the book by Nicholas Peggi, a real-life story inspired by the life of Frank Rosenthal, who managed 3 casinos named Stardust, Fermont and Hacienda for the Chicago mob in the late 1970s. This is an exceptional move by Martin Scorsese that shows how a casino is run, how a gambler can play to win in a casino and how its insider trade works.
��Hard Eight (1996)
IMDB rating: 7.2/10
Year: 1996
Cast: Phillip Baker Hall as Sydney, John C. Reilly as John, Samuel L. Jackson as Jimmy, Phillip Seymour as young Craps player and Gwyneth Paltrow as Clementine
This movie is based on its character John, who loses all of his assets, and then with the help of a stranger, he becomes a small-scale professional gambler. It has the popular phrase “When good luck is a long shot, you have to hedge your bets“, “If you stay in the game long enough, you’ll see everything, win everything, and lose everything“, which is very true about gambling. This one is good for a starting gambler to watch to learn the basics of gambling.
��Vegas Vacation
IMDB rating: 5.9/10
Year: 1997
Cast: Chevy Chase as Clark Griswald, Beverly D’Angelo as Ellen Griswald, Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie, Marisol Nichols as Audrey Griswald and Ethan Embry as Russel Griswald
Forth movie of its vacation series, Vegas Vacation, is about the Griswald family who decides to take a vacation in Las Vegas. This one has several real-time casino/gambling scenes, and its plot is heavily intertwined with casinos/gambling.
��Rain Man (1988)
IMDB rating: 8/10
Year: 1988
Cast: Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt, Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt, Valeria Golino as Susanna, Jake Hoffman as the boy at the Pancake counter and Lucinda Jenney as Iris
This movie revolves around the selfish son of a businessman and his autistic brother, going around the country for money. The father leaves his autistic son with a 3 million inheritance, and his selfish son kidnaps him and tries to gamble away the money. Even though this does not revolve around gambling or casinos, significant parts are related to gambling.
��Maverick (1994)
IMDB rating: 7/10
Year: 1994
Cast: Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick, James Garner as Marshal, Jodie Foster as Anabelle, James Coburn as Commodore and Alfred Molina as Angel
This movie is about Maverick, who prefers conning people to fight. Needing an amount of 3000 dollars to enter a poker tournament, he tries to con people for money with the help of a female gambler. Its story is centered around the poker game and is an excellent variant for poker enthusiasts.
��The Gambler (1974)
IMDB rating: 7.1 /10
Year: 1974
Cast: James Caan as Axel Freed, Paul Sorvino as Hips, Lauren Hutton as Billie, Morris Carnovsky as Lowenthal and Burt Young as Carmine
This movie has its tagline, “For $10,000 they break your arms. For $20,000 they break your legs. Axel Freed owes $44,000”. Axel is addicted to gambling and soon goes into debt. He takes out loans from his family members, and when things go from bad to worse, he decides to gamble once more and make a big win. This story focuses on the ability of gambling to make big money at once.
��The Sting (1973)
IMDB rating: 8.3/10
Year: 1973
Cast: Robert Redford as Johnny Hooker, Paul Newman as Henry Gondorff, Robert Shaw as Lonnegan, Dimitra Arliss as Loretta Salino and Robert Earl Jones as Luther
This movie is about a small-scale grifter and his efforts to win big sums of money against a big crime boss in the city. Its plot is packed with complicated con schemes/action and is an excellent variant to watch for those who love complex betting/gambling action.
��Dark City
IMDB rating: 6.7 /10
Year: 1950
Cast: Charlton Heston as Danny Haley, Lizabeth Scott as Fran Garland, Don DeFore as Arthur Winant, Dean Jagger as Captain Garvey, Viveca Lindfors as Victoria and Jack Webb as Augie
This movie revolves around Danny Haley, whose gambling operation is shut down, his journey to earn a large sum of money to reinstate it, and when he wins a large sum of money, protecting that from the victim’s elder brother. Its plot contains many details about poker/ maintaining a gambling operation.
��Mississippi Grind
IMDB rating: 6.4 / 10
Year: 2015
Cast: Ryan Reynolds as Curtis, Ben Mendelsohn as Gerry, Sienna Miller as Simone, Lio Tipton as Vanessa and Anthony Howard as Larry
Review: Gerry is a person with no money and in need of money fast, and he joins hands with Curtis, a charming young poker player. Together they play poker to win big sums of money. Its plot focuses a lot on poker and has many poker scenes.
�� California Split
IMDB rating: 7.2 / 10
Year: 1974
Cast: Elliot Gould as Charlie, George Segal as Bill, Joseph Walsh as Sparkie, Gwen Welles as Susan Peters, Ann Prentiss as Barbara Miller.
Review: California split is about a casual gambler named Charlie becoming friends with a professional gambler named Bill and starting to imitate his life. Charley goes deeper into gambling, and the story shows how gambling changes his life.
��Molly’s Game
IMDB rating: 7 / 10
Year: 2017
Cast: Jessica Chastain as Molly Bloom, Idris Elba as Charlie Jaffey, Micheal Cera as Player X, Kevin Costner as Larry Bloom and Joe Keery as Cole
Review: This is the true story of an Olympic-class skier named Molly Bloom, who conducted the most exclusive poker club in the world for the rich/elite, and how she got caught by the FBI. This is a thrilling movie about high-stakes poker/gambling.
��Rounders
IMDB rating: 7.3/ 10
Year: 1998
Cast: Matt Damon as Mik, Edward Norton as Lester, John Malkovich as Teddy KGB, John Turturro as Joe Knish and Gretchen Mol as Jo.
Review: This movie revolves around Mike, who has given up gambling, beginning gambling in high stakes games again to help his friend with some financial difficulties. Its game has components of big stakes poker and is an excellent variant of winning big sums of money while balancing a private life.
��The Card Counter
IMDB rating: 6.2/ 10
Year: 2021
Cast: Oscar Isaac as William Tell, Tiffany Haddish as La Linda, Tye Sheridan as Kirk, William Defoe as Major John and Amye Gousset as Judy Beaufort
Review: A critically acclaimed movie, The Card Counter, focuses on William Tell and his journey doing gambling. Its story talks about the ups /downs of gambling and how he gets through those things, and it is highly recommended for gamblers to see the dark/light sides of having a gambling addiction.
�� Atlantic City
IMDB rating: 7.3/ 10
Year: 1980
Cast: Burt Lancaster as Lou, Susan Sarandon as Sally, Kate Reid as Grace, Robert Joy as Dave and Hollis McLaren as Chrissie
Review: This movie is about a Canadian woman who leaves her home in Atlantic City and has a successful gambling career with her criminal husband. Its story focuses on how the pair earn money through gambling and the hardships they face. This movie comes with several gambling scenes set up in Atlantic city in the early 80s.
�� Bachelor Party Vegas
IMDB rating: 4.5/ 10
Year: 2006
Cast: Karl Penn, Donald Faison, Jonathan Bennett, Diora Baird and Vincent Pastore
Its story is about a bachelor party thrown in vegas and how a set of friends are falsely accused of robbing a casino. This movie contains many gambling scenes in Las Vegas casinos.
�� Ocean’s Eleven
IMDB rating: 7.7 /10
Year: 2001
Cast: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia and Casey Affleck
The movie Ocean’s 11 is about a group of international criminals who pull off jewelry heists worldwide. It is the first installment of its Oceans movie franchise, focusing on con artists.
�� Oceans Thirteen
IMDB rating: 6.9/ 10
Year: 2007
Cast: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle
Its story is about how the Oceans team takes revenge against a casino owner called Willy Banks after he cons an original Ocean team member. This is a heist comedy movie of its Oceans franchise and focuses on casinos instead of jewelry.
�� Lucky You
IMDB rating: 5.9/ 10
Year: 2007
Cast: Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Debra Messing, Robert Downey Jr, Jean Smart and Crystal Simanek
This movie is about a successful poker player competing in a poker tournament in Las Vegas to win but battling with personal problems simultaneously. He accidentally gets to play with his estranged father, who is a renowned poker legend. Its story is a great one to learn about poker games in general.
Gambling Movies on Netflix
Netflix, as a streaming service, is an excellent source of casino movies. For the fans of the gambling genre, Netflix has an extensive list of variants to watch. Following are some of the best gambling-based movies on Netflix.
�� #1. James Bond: Casino Royale
IMDB rating: 8/ 10
Year: 2006
Cast: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judy Dench, Jeffrey Wright and Mads Mikkelson
Details: Its story is about how James Bond captures an illegal poker player named La Chiffre, who plays poker to win big sums of money and stay safe from terrorists. Bond ends up getting into a poker competition with La Chiffre, trying to win. This movie is from the Bond franchise and is an action thriller based on gambling, especially poker.
�� #2. Bugsy
IMDB rating: 6.8/ 10
Year: 1991
Cast: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Stefanie Mason and James Toback
Details: This movie is about a criminal/mobster named Bugsy, who moves to Hollywood, California, with the hopes of building a gambling empire. He goes to the Nevada desert and helps build his Las Vegas gambling empire from the ground up. This is a great variant to learn about the history of the origin of gambling in Las Vegas.
�� #4. The Cooler
IMDB rating: 6.9/ 10
Year: 2003
Cast: William H Macy, Maria Bello, Alec Baldwin, Shawn Hatosy, Ron Livingston and Paul Sorvino
Details: This is a unique story about a gambler who was unlucky and sent to compete with high rollers by the mob, as they consider bad luck contagious. But, he falls in love with a cocktail waitress and acquires “lady luck”, which plays in his favor. This mob tries to break them apart to take away that luck. This movie about gambling superstitions follows a unique theme and is highly recommended to new gamblers to learn about superstitions/beliefs in the gambling industry.
�� #5. Croupier
IMDB rating: 7/ 10
Year: 1998
Cast: Clive Owen, Mike Hodges, Alex Kingston, Kate Hardie, Gina McKee and Rhona Mitra
Details: A croupier is a person in charge of a gambling table in a casino. This movie revolves around a Croupier named Jack Manfred who has problems in his personal life. Then a rich South African woman comes to the casino, which distracts Jack, who then tries to defraud his house with the help of the South African elite. This one gives an insider perspective of what happens behind the gambling table and is highly recommended to gamblers.
